Time clocks or time recorders have been in use since approximately 1880. Large numbers of employees required individual time cards and the time clocks were built with heavy steel and brass parts to take the beating of the use of many employees. However, this constant use promoted wear and breakdowns no matter how well the parts were manufactured.
Time clocks which utilized ribbons had to be monitored and changed periodically. Eventually, mass production of compact time recorders of many types occurred.
Eventually, much more sophisticated time clock devices were invented, including those using micro processors to operate the time clock and to calculate total numbers of hours worked of each employee. A time clock of this nature is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,170,015.
The time recorder has always done one basic thing, it has printed the time on a chart or time card. The employee time card is an extremely important piece of information. Most state laws and, in addition, many union agreements require that hourly employees must have their hours of employment recorded in a manner which can be verified. The usual time card has served this purpose for many years. It gives the employee a printed record of his time of arrival and time of departure. Many of today's time clocks, however, have gotten quite sophisticated and are somewhat difficult to use and operate. A need has existed in the field for a simple and effective time clock device which can be easily used and operated by the employee.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a simple, inexpensive time clock which is easily used by the employee.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a simple time clock which reduces to a minimum the problem of blurring of the print when the time card is inserted into the time clock and activated.